AZ Big Media is hosting prominent Arizona commercial real estate professionals at its inaugural AZRE Forum, a mid-year industry update and forecast.

AZRE is the leading commercial real estate magazine in the Valley,” says editor Amanda Ventura. “The AZRE Forum is a new way for AZ Big Media and AZRE to reach its readership and start dialogues among industry professionals.”

The July 23 event will take place from 3:30 to 7 p.m. at the Ritz Carlton in Phoenix and will be the last event the hotel holds before it is re-branded as an Autograph Collection hotel.

The forum will start off with an economic update by Lee McPheters, an economics professor at the W. P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University and the director of the school’s JPMorgan Chase Economic Outlook Center. The center specializes in economic forecasts for Arizona and the Western states.

The forum will continue with three panels of Arizona’s top commercial real estate experts to discuss the economy, development and the state of the industry.

“I am excited to see the panelists and moderators we’ve secured for the AZRE Forum onstage together,” Ventura says. “The individuals we selected are leaders in their respective fields and are heavyweights when it comes to raising the caliber of commercial conversations. My hope is that everyone leaves the event feeling like they’ve learned something and understand the future of Arizona commercial real estate better.”

Two of the panels will have a brokerage focus and will be moderated by Pete Bolton, the executive vice president and managing director at the commercial real estate advisory firm Newmark Grubb Knight Frank. One panel will be a general market update, while the other has an industrial and office focus. The third panel will be a state of the state panel moderated by Grady Gammage, an attorney with Gammage & Burnham ,whose focus is in land use, zoning and real estate projects.

The event is sponsored by Alliance Bank of Arizona, Fennemore Craig P.C., Colliers International, Plaza Companies and Velocity Retail Group.

For a list of panelists, visit here.